The combination of DemandTec and IBM will help marketing and sales executives in retail and other industries drive more revenue and increase profitability, said Craig Hayman, IBM's general manager of industry solutions.

Barrington Research analyst Jeff Houston told Dow Jones Newswires that it made sense for DemandTec to be part of IBM. "IBM can be selling a company like Target or Wal-Mart a big multimillion-dollar IT project and slap DemandTec into that," he said.